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Just like the victims of Ghostface, the serial killer protagonist of the Scream movie saga, Melissa Barrera by no means noticed what was coming for her. “I by no means imagined myself making horror films,” the Mexican actress says. Now, the 32-year-old is the star of Scream VI, the most recent installment of the Wes Craven’s horror franchise, created in 1996. Within the new film, the performer as soon as once more places herself within the sneakers of Samantha Carpenter to try to outlive the ravages of the well-known assassin.
Within the new movie, Barrera follows up on the occasions of the fifth Scream movie, which got here out final yr. Scream VI picks up the place the earlier installment left off. Sam (Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega) try to place the trauma behind them and begin new lives in New York, however the previous isn’t buried. As soon as once more, they must face their demons, and the enemy that desires to destroy them.

When she was chosen for the earlier installment, Barrera started finding out the primary 4 installments. The administrators additionally gave her a listing of horror films to encourage her. “I fell in love with the style once more. Now I’m a horror fan once more,” she tells EL PAÍS over a telephone name.
With this new movie, Samantha Carpenter follows within the footsteps and legacy of the opposite protagonists and survivors of the franchise, together with Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers, performed by Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, respectively, within the 5 earlier movies. She turns into a part of the pantheon of so-called Scream Queens, or actresses who develop into iconic throughout the style. Actors equivalent to Campbell and Cox share the excellence, in addition to legends equivalent to Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh, amongst others.
“It’s an honor, as a result of that title for me is one thing that it’s important to earn, one thing that the general public has to grant you. Personally, I really feel that I nonetheless have a methods to go, however I actually recognize the gesture. I actually admire all the enduring Scream Queens, together with Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox, who’re legendary,” says Barrera.

Scream, regardless of having touches of humor and parody of the serial killer style, is a saga that offers with trauma and previous choices. For Barrera it was a problem as an actress to face the duality of her character. Sam’s inside battle with mild and darkness has dragged on because the earlier installment. “Entering into these psychological conflicts is troublesome, however they’re challenges which can be welcome for me. It makes the character extra layered and feels extra human. Every part within the film feels extra harmful. The chase sequences are extra intense, together with the vitality of New York. Every part within the movie is rising in tone and is rather more brutal than earlier than,” she explains.
Barrera grew to become identified in 2011 on the Mexican actuality present La Academia, a singing competitors for brand new expertise. From there, the doorways opened for her, first in productions in Mexico, such because the cleaning soap opera Siempre Tuya Acapulco, through which she performed her first main function, and Netflix sequence like Membership De Cuervos. As soon as she made the leap to Los Angeles, different main roles started to reach in sequence equivalent to Vida (2018-2020) and Maintain Respiratory (2022).
In 2019, the actress gained a starring function In The Heights, the movie model of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway play. Now, in 2023, three of her abilities and passions, dance, singing and performing, come collectively once more in Carmen, a movie based mostly on George Bizet’s opera, through which she shares the lead with Irish actor Paul Mescal, latest Oscar nominee for Aftersun. The movie opens on April 21 in New York and Los Angeles, and in Could in the remainder of the USA.

“The movie is visually like a poem. It’s a movie that’s mainly advised by dance. Music, performing and dancing are three disciplines which can be actually fulfilling for me, and I’m at all times searching for initiatives that enable me to mix them. I studied musical theater, and that’s what I wish to do. Now I discovered one other medium the place I can discover that. In The Heights was extra of a Broadway-type musical. Carmen is one thing else fully. I wish to search for initiatives that really feel like they’re breaking the limitations of a style,” she provides.
The actress strikes between smaller and bigger productions. On March 17, All The World is Sleeping, the primary movie function that Barrera landed within the US, was launched. Barrera performs a mom from New Mexico who sinks deeper into her dependancy as she struggles to get better for her daughter. “It’s a very troublesome story to look at, and I wish to honor the ladies who’ve gone by this case, particularly the seven who shared their story for the writing of the script, which I fell in love with,” says the actress.
When Barrera appeared on La Academia, she was eradicated in spherical 13 of 18. However she is a agency believer that it’s by no means too late to pursue a dream. “I’m very grateful to my interior baby, that she by no means stopped dreaming. That she pushed me to combat and take dangers. I by no means cease studying and knocking on doorways. I really feel very fortunate for every part I’ve accomplished since I began with the theater in Monterrey, till now selling Scream. I really feel that I’m simply starting, that the nice issues are simply beginning to arrive,” she says.
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